What does Luke 9:23 mean? "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his?

Question

cross daily and follow Me." Specifically, what does taking up your cross daily mean?

Answer 1

no pain no gain

Answer 2

Good question. My problem was always trying to figure out how the disciples would understand this reference to the cross prior to the crucifixion.

Little did i know that my confusion would actually be the catalyst to my understanding (i guess that's how it usually works though!)

Think about this, the disciples who Christ was talking to had no idea that He would be hung on the Cross. In fact, all they knew of the cross was that it was a form of capital punishment employed by the Romans to cause horrific pain and torture until the subject eventually suffocates.

wow, doesn't that give Christ's invitation to follow a little bit of a less enticing tone? To take up one's cross daily is a precept echoed in the Epistles, when Paul says that our old man is crucified with Him.

I digress. The best explanation i think i can muster (as expositorily as possible) is to say that taking up one's cross is to be willing to face the brutality that was imagined by the disciples when they heard the reference. Get into the disciples' minds when they hear that phrase - know the jaw-dropped-sweaty-palm feeling they must have felt. Then recognize that they all faced martyr's deaths (except John, but they tried to boil him!) boldly later in the century.

Good question, my advice is to try to get into the mind of the recipient whenever you are trying to interpret Scripture.

Answer 3

And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34 RSV)

This is our Lord's outline of the process of discipleship. Here, in his own words, we look at what it means to be a disciple. The very fact that our Lord called the multitudes together with the disciples has raised questions in people's minds Many have wondered if this indicates that he was seeking to make disciples, i.e., evangelizing; or was he simply telling his own disciples what it will mean to live as disciples? In other words it raises the question that many ask: Can you be a Christian and not be a disciple? -- Is discipleship a second stage of Christianity? -- Are there many Christians, but only a relatively few disciples? -- Can you be a Christian and not be a disciple? This is a very important question, and one our Lord himself will answer for us as we go on in our study.

- Ray C. Stedman
THE WAY OF THE CROSS
http://www.raystedman.org/mark/3315.html

Answer 4

The cross represent the path that God has set for us through Christ. At the cross is where he bled, where he was hung, and where he died because of our sin. We must carry that cross, or burden.
The only way to take up the cross is to deny yourself. Every thing that will benefit you has be put down, so that you can pick up the cross, and live only for God.

Answer 5

The cross is a symbol of crucifixion/death. So, to take up your cross means that you have to SYMBOLICLY crucify the flesh daily. This means to put away your fleshly desires for the world every day, stand up and be strong for Christ.

Do all Christians do it? Does this mean that we are perfect and live perfect lives. No. This is a scrifice, and a true sacrifice is never easy.

Answer 6

To take up your cross means to accept the daily "persecutions" that come your way as Jesus would.
This could means anything from being martyred (quite a big cross)..to simply obeying your mom when she tells you to quick smacking at the table.

Answer 7

The non- stop daily temptations that say to you to eat more than you should, go get drunk, cheat on your taxes, cheat your employer, cheat someone out of an honest wage,have sex with whoever and where ever and whenever you want, steal, murder, etc. We must deny ourselves because all these things appeal to ourselves. We must put sin to death with Jesus.

Answer 8

We must reject the things we want, we must focus on what the Lord wants, our cross to bare is the burden of our sins and weaknesses. Daily we must examine oursleves and try to "die" to sin which is of a flesh nature.

Answer 9

For Jesus, the cross with the ultimate purpose and fulfillment of his life. But to get to that purpose, he had to lay aside his own deisres - such as not to be beaten, nailed, whipped, and killed - and do what God had planned for him.

As Christians, who to are called to lay aside our own comfort and desires, and do whatever it takes - daily - to get to the purpose God has for our lives. We are each here for a reason. It takes a daily committment to fulfilling the "reason" for our lives.

Answer 10

To die to sin, to leave our life behind and follow Him, follow His plan for each individual.
We have to do this daily, reminding ourselves each and every day that we are saved by grace and that we must follow God.

Jesus took up His cross and died for our sins.
He tells us to take up our cross and follow Him.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” - Gal 2:20
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" - Romans 6:1,2
By taking up our cross and being crucified, we die to sin as well.
"Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. " Romans 6:6,7

Hope that helps..

Answer 11

It is often cited as how one must renounce self (i.e. selfish personal desires) to attain full salvation. It's also a statement that one must be prepared to undergo persecution.

This comes just before the Transfiguration.